South Korea's Jobless Rate Slips to 3.7% in May

South Korea's jobless rate fell slightly in May on a rise in the number of employees in the health and accommodation sectors, with the unemployment rate for young people still remaining high, a government report showed Wednesday.

    The unemployment rate in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 3.7% last month, compared with 3.9% tallied in April, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.

    The seasonally adjusted jobless rate stayed at 3.7% in May, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) News Agency.

    Job creation edged up from the previous month. The number of employed people stood at 26.45 million in May, up 261,000 from a year earlier, higher than the previous month's 252,000 gain. The unemployment rate for young people, aged between 15 and 29, reached 9.7% last month, down from April's 10.9%.  However, it marked the highest number for the month of May. 

    The unemployment rate for those aged under 29 hit an all-time high of 12.5% in February as tens of thousands of young people applied for a nationwide civil service exam at the time, overlapping with the college winter vacation and graduation season.

    Meanwhile, South Korean shipbuilders, including Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., have been under severe financial strain in the face of a fall in new orders amid a protracted slump in the world's economy.

    They announced self-rescue plans, including asset sales and downsizing, while the government decided to inject some 12 trillion won about (US$10 billion) into state-run policy lenders to finance the restructuring process.

    The finance ministry said it will put policy priority on job creation as part of its efforts to deal with downside pressures.

Source ; QNA